Improvement in air or gas engines



RSHEARER, AIR 0R GAS ENGINE.

No. 33,215. Patented Sept. 3, 1861.

1 UNITED STATES PETER SHEARER, DIP-READING, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN AIR OR: GAS 'ENGIN'ES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 333! 5, dated September 3,1861.

To all whom it may concern/:-

Be it known that I, PETER SHEARER, of Reading, in the county of Berks and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Engine for Obtaining Motive Power by the Expansion of Air'or Gases by Heat; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, inwhic.h-

Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the engine with the working-cylinder C, or, as I prefer to term it, the power-cylinder, in section. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same parallel with Fig. 1, through the airreservoir A, the supplementary cylinder F, and heaters D E. Fig. 3 is a plan of the same with the reservoir or cooler A removed and certain of the passages and valvesbelonging to the supplementary cylinder F in section. Fig, 4 is a vertical section parallel withF-igs. 1 and 2 of the pump B and some of Heattachinents, showing also the connection of the said pump. Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical sectionof the supplementary cylinder F,

showing its connection with the reservoir.

. Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

. The principal objects of my invention are, first, to obtain the adv-antagewhich in the use of air as a motive agent results from sub jecting-it to a very high degree of- .compres-.

sion before expanding it by heat.-viz., economy of heat; second, to obtain the advantages resulting from the use of Water as a medium, through which the air acts-viz, lubrication of the wearing-surfaces and the prevention, of leakage at. the valves and other parts .of

theengine.

I call thefsupplementary cylinder F,-C0l1 taining a piston F.

.Before describing the details of these elements and their several appurtenances and connections, which mayat tirst sight appear somewhat complex, I willendeavor to give a general idea of the most importantof. their several functions, as this may render the description more intelligible as itis proceeded with.

The pun -pB serves two purposes, viz: that of' filling the reservoir A with tightly-com- ,pressed air bcfore starting the engine, for

which purpose itis worked by hand, and that of pumping water into and out of the said reservoirto cool the air which has been used, for which purpose it isoperated bythe engine. When the requisite pressure has been obtained in the reservoir A, a portion of air is allowed to pass in into the power-cylinder 0 upon both sides of the piston 0'', one side of which exposes a surface to its pressure as much greater than the other sideas thearea of the transverse section of the piston-rod C The pressure on the larger surface preponderating over that on the smaller drives the piston outward and a half revolution of the crank-shaft a and fiy-wheel a is obtained. During this movement a portion of the compressed air from the reservoir A is transferred to thejheater E, where it is heated rapidly to the degree-required by water which has been first heated in the heater D. Before'the outward stroke aforesaid is completed the air so heated begins to exert its now increasing expansive force upon the smaller surface of the piston C, thereby producing in turn a preponderance of pressure on hat surface and so bringing back the piston after the crank has passed the dead-point,and thus completing the revolution of the crank-shaft and flywheel. Next, the heated air which has now expended its increased force is returned from the 'heat-erto the reservoir A and cooled by means of cold-vi aterintroduced into it by the pump B without being relieved from the pressure which was -first imparted to it by the said pump, and another portion of cold air is con- ;vey'ed into theheaterto repeat the operation.

The machine is-tlius kept in motion by permanently-maintaining theuniform pressure of theco'ld air upon the larger surface of the piston and alternating said pressure upon the smaller surface'with-an increased pressure of a portion of the air produced by heat during every revolutionof the crank-shaft and fly wheel. The supplementarycylinder F and its piston F are used in this operation as a pump to pump hot water from the-heater D and air from the reservoir A alternately into and out of the heater E.

I will now proceed to describe "the details of the engine.

ll isabed-platc, upon which are erected the heater-furnace U and the standards I and K for supporting those various working parts of the engine not supported by the said furnace. The parts supported on the furnace are the supplementary cylinder F and the reservoir A, which is supported on top of said cylinder. The parts supported entirely on the standard K are the power-cylinder C, the guides c c for the piston-rod C and one of the pillow-blocks a (1".101' the main shaft (1.

' The parts supported entirely by the standard The heater D, which I call the primary or preparatory heater, in which the water is heated before its introduction to the secondary heater E, may be constructed like any ordinary steam-boiler. In the drawings it is represented of the form of a parallelopipedon, having vertical flues d d, Fig. 2, through which there is an upward circulation of the gases of combustion from the fire-place of the furnace toward the chimney R. This heater is always filled with water, which circulates through it from time to time in the direction of the horizontal arrows shown in Fig. 2, from a pipe f, connecting it with the supplementary cylinder F to a pipe 0', leading from it to the intermediate or .secondary heater E, in which it heats the air. The primary heater always has free communication with the res- -.c rvoir A by means of a pipe 11, which keeps the water in the said heater undera constant pressure corresponding with that in the said The secondary heater-E is of nprightcylindrical forni, supported on the top of the primary heater I), and arranged within the lower part of the chimney R, in which it is surrounded by the escaping products of combustion and so kept hot. This secondary heater is nearly filled with thin wire-work E, which may consist of arteries of sheets of wire-gau ze placed one above another or may be composed of wire arranged in any other way to present a large surface, such wire-work resting on-a bridge e over the pipe e and being preferably of copper, on account of its being a good conductor of heat.

The secondary heater is connected below the bridge (5*, supporting the wire-work bya pipe f, with the same end of the supplementary cylinder as the pipe ,f,.whieh connects said cylinder with-the primary heater.

At the upper end of the pipe e there is fitted a valve c, which opens by upward pressure to admit water from I) to E and closes by gravitation and downward pressure to prevent the return of the water from Ev to D.

At the connection of the pipe) with the cylinder F there is aslide-valve f Figs. 2 and 3, which is opened by mechanism, to be hereinafter described, for the purpose of al lowing water to pass from the cylinder F t0 the primary heater D, and at the connection of the pipe f with the said cylinder there is a Close to its top the secondary heater E has ahorizontal neck E which is bolted to'the supplementary cylinder F, and. which contains.

wire-work E of similar character to E. .Be-

tween this neck and thebottom of the reservoir A there is a passage e, and between the said neck and the supplementary cylinder F there is a passage 6, communicating with the said cylinder at the opposite end'to the pipes f f*, the passage 0'' being for cold air to pass from the cylinder F to the heater .E, and the passage 6 being for heated air to pass from the heater to the reservoir A. The passages e and e have their ports fitted with a slidevalve e, Figs. 2 and 3, by which either can be opened and the other closed to the'heater At thetop of the passage 6 there is a checkvalve e which opens by upward pressure to permit the heated air to pass upwardfrom the heater E to the reservoir,but-closes by its own weight to prevent the water from descending from the reservoir to the said heater.

The air reservoir or cooler A is a strong iron vessel supported on the top of the supplementary cylinder F. near the bottom-with a perforated. plate A',

extending all across it for the purpose of di- Beside the aforesaid connections of the said reservoir or cooler with the primary heater D, the secondary heater E, and the supplementary cylinder F, the/said reservoir orcooler is connected by a pipe f Figs. 2 and 5, with the same end of the supplementary cylinder with which the passage e"'communicates;- also,

It may be furnished whichthe greatest area of the piston B is exposed. At the connection of the pipe f with the supplementary cylinder F there is a flapvalve f, which opens to admit cold air from the reservoir into the supplementary cylinder F, but closes to prevent its return. At the connection of the pipe I) with the pump B there is a flap-valve bi, which opens outward to permit the passage of airor water from the said pump to the reservoir A, but toprevent its return to the pump by that passage. The

pipe 1) conveys the water from the reservoir' back to the other end of the pump, and the reservoir contains cold compressed air above the said pipe and cold water below it. The

said reservoir is also fitted in one side with an escape-valve 1.2, which is held closed bya lever 13, except that from time to time it is opened by the acumulation of surplus water above it in the reservoir, such accumulation being owing tothe pump being so constructed that it pumps rather more water into the reservoir than it pumps out. The pipe 0' is fitted at its connection with the power-cylim derC with a sliding stop-valve c operated by a screw to stop and start 'thelengine, as will be hereinafter explainedj The power-cylinder (3, besides being conneeted with the reservoir A by the pipe c aforesaid, is connected on the opposite'side of its piston-that is to say, the side which, owingto the'rod presents the small,erareaby means of apipe c, with the supplementary cylinder F, the connection with the latter cylinder being: on the same side of its piston as the pipes f f The said cylinderC is also fittedat the end where thepipc c is arranged with a valve c, which can be opened and closed by a hand-lever 0*. This valve is closed when the engine is in operation, and is only opened for the purpose of permitting the'escape from the cylinder of the waterthat is employed therein as a medium between the piston C and the air that presses upon it to produce the motive-power. The piston C" is packed to the said cylinder in themanner common to the pistons of steam-engines,'and its rod C passes througha stuffing-box in the cylinder-head and is connected by acrosshead 0 and connecting-rod C with the driving-crank a on the main shafta, all in the same manner as the piston-rod of a common steainengine.

The supplementarycylinder F, whose pipeconnections, passages, and valves have been all described, is of larger caliber than,but of about the same length as, the power-cylinder C and of smaller capacity than the air-reservoir A. It has'its piston lightly packed to the cylinder and has its piston-rod F ex- 'tendcd of thesame size on both sides of it and through stnffing'boxcs'in both cylinderheads, as shown in Fig. 2, and therefore the samearea of surface is presented by each side ofthe' piston that there may always'be the same pressure on opposite sides of itduring the operation of the engine, so that the power required to drive it is only whatis sufiicient to overcome friction. The said rod F is connected by a cross-head F and con{ necting-rod F with a crank a on the main shaft a; but the said connecting-rod F instead of being rigid like the connecting-rod (3 and the connecting-rods commonly used] for crank-connections, is made with a kneejoint 14 at the middle ofits length, said joint being:v so constructed as to permit of a deflection of the said rod in an upward but not in a downward. directiotn This connectingwod does not operate upon the crank a to turn the shaft, but the crank acts upon the said rod to give a. reciprocating movement to the piston F. The object of the knee-joint 14 is to make the piston F make a stroke back and forth while the piston 0 makes itsforward or out-ward stroke toward the crankshaft, aud to keep the said piston F stationary near thatlen'd of the cylinder F which communicates with the r'eservoirA,as shown in Rig. 2, during the time that the piston Q is making itsstrokein the opposite direction, and inorder to enablev this to be effected the crank'a is made about double the-length of the power-crank a and set at right angles to a', and a stop a is arranged inone of the guides ff to stop the cross-head from moving, toward the cylinder F. in its revolution has passed a position verti' cally belowthe shaft a, the continued movement of the saidcrank in the direction of the arrow. shown near it in Fig. 2 to the position vertically above the shaft represented in that figure merely having the effect of first bending, the knee-jointli by striking the connecting-rod F against a projection 00 on the standard I, and afterward straightening the said joint 1i of the connecting-rod. The continued movement of the crank a from the position shown in Fig. 2-to the position vertically below the shaft produces the movement of the piston F forth and back from and to the position shown in Fig. 2.

The valves f and'e before described, are operated to open and close simultaneously the passages f and e by means of their being connected with a lever 15, Fig. 3, which works on a fixed fulcrum 16, and which is connected by a rod 17; with one arm of an elbow-lever 18,.working on a fixed fulcrum 1f), the said elbow-lever having its other arm con nected by a rod 20* with a camr-yoke'20, in which work two cams 21 22, fast onthe-shaft. a, the said cam-.21 operating on the upper part of the yoke 'to produce the necessary movement of the said passages, and the said cam 22 operating. .on the lowerpart of the After the crank (0 yoketo produce the necessary movement of the said valves to ettectthe closing of the said passages. The said cams are so arranged that the opening of the aforesaid passages commences as or just before the piston F starts forward to the right, and that the closing of such passages is eflz'ected almost immediately after the said piston has commenced this pipe dips into a water-cistern L, from U which the cold water to be forced into the reservoir A at the bottom thereof through the pipe b is drawn bythe movement of the piston Btoward the shaft a.

Before the engine starts and when, the

pump is required to force air into the reservoir a spigot I), provided to fit a hole in the pipeb, is removed, and the pump then draws air instead of water, and after the reservoir A has been charged with air the spigot b -is replaced and the pump draws water from the cistern L.

The valve-chest B contains a slide-valve b? nearly resembling the slide-valve of a steamengine having a cap-like cavity in its face,

and working over three ports 23 24 25, of

which the middle one i24 communicates with an escape-pipe b leading to, the atmosphere, and the two others 23 25 terminate in thecylinder B in a single orifice close to the opposite end of 'thesaid cylinder to that where the pipes b b are connected. This valve has a lap on one side of its cavity, which, when the valve moves to the right of Fig. 4, closes the port 24 just before it opens the port 23, and

keeps 24 closed during the whole time 23 remains open and until the latter is again closed,:

the said valve when drawn to the right admitting waterthrough the'port 23 into the pump from the pipe I), but never permitting it to pass directlygfiroinsaid pipe to the port 24 The pump-piston B is so actuated by the connection of its rod B with the yoke a, of an eccentric a on the main shaft a, and the valVe'bTis so actuated by the connection of itsf'st'em' 26* with a cam yoke 26, surrounding scan; 27 on the said shaft, that the, pump opcrates as follows: As the said piston moves to the 1ett,the port 24 is closed and 23 opened,

the latter allowing the passage of water from the reservoir or cooler A intothe pump-cylinder B. This water cannot now escape from the cylinder, because its outlet-port 24 is closed, but presses against the right-hand side of the piston B', withthe pressure equal to that of the 'air in the reservoir or cooler A,

a 4 Y cams.

thus assisting the progress of the said piston to the left. As the piston moves to the right,

the port 23 is closed and the port 25 brought.

into communication with the port 24,'allowing the water to escape from the cylinder by the pipe b. The pump is thus made to pump cold water into and out of the reservoir-or Y cooler A, such water having an upward circulation therein andcooling'the air admitted. I

thereinto from the cylinder. The piston-rod B is disconnected from the eccentric during the time of the working of the pump by the hand-lever B before described, to compress the air into the reservoir A preparatory to setting the engine in operation.

Having now described the details of the nglue, I will proceed to describe the leadingoperations that occur during a revolution of the crank-shaft when the engine is in opera+ tion. I will first suppose that the power-piston C hasjust started to the right, as represented in Fig. 1, The powerecylinder C'i's filled with water on both sides of the said pis-- ton, the pipe 0 supplyingcold water from the reservoir A to the left of the said piston 1 and the pipe 0 which is always open, allowing water to pass from the right side of the piston to the supplementarycylinder F, which v is filled with hot water on the right, sideof Y its piston; The part of the cylinder'F on the v. left of the piston F is partly filled with cold water and partly with air, the air being received from'the upper part of the reservoir A, where air only is contained through the pipe f The'quantity of water which is contained in that part of the cylinder, and which 7 v I remains cold, remains there permanently, the object being to afford no unnecessary space for air. The intermediate heater E is filled with air nearly down to the bottom of its wire-work E; but the part below and" the pipe f are filled with hot water. The valve f e, Figsn2-and 3, has opened'the pipe e and closed that e The valve f has opened theipipe f and the valve f has closed by weight- The pressure from the-air-reservoir Athi'oughthe pipe c on the larger surface ofthepower-pistonC'overcomesthe pressure in'the opposite surface thereof, which is exposed to a no greater degree of pressure than if directly in communication with the reservoir A, as the cylinder C communicates freely through the pipe 0 with'the cylinder F, the cylinder through the pipe f with the heater D, and the heater through the pipe (1 with the reservoir A. The pressure on the larger surface of the piston 0" thus overcoming that on the smaller'causes the said piston to travel to the right, and so by giving motion to the crank a and shaft a to cause the piston F also to-rnove to the right, the latter moving at a greater velocity by reason of the greater length of its Crank 0/. As the power-piston C advances, it drives the water before it through the pipe cinto-thcylinder F, whence, as the piston F is advancing at the same time, the water is driven through the pipef into the primary heater D, from which the. hot water, which is rib eye contained within it, is thereby forced up through the passage e, opening the valve 6 and passing into the secondary or intermediate heater E, displacing the heated air from among the wines E and heating said wires to the top of said heater. At the same time the air is forced up through the passage e opening the valve 0 and is cooled in its ascent through the wathe same direction, the valves f f, 6 and e close, and .the valve e closes the passage e and opens 6 As the piston F- travels to the left, which it does while 0 completes its stroke to the right, it forces the cold air which it has just drawn from the reservoir A into the intermediate heater E through the. passage e driving the hot water-before it through the-wire-work E- .and E and through the pipe f opening the val e E into the vacuum.

which is being formd on the right of the piston F. As the air enters and descends among the wires, it will be observed, all the exterior passages from the heater E and cylinder F, except the pipe 0, leading to the cylinder C, are closed. The expansive force of the air among the wires is now increased y heat; but it cannot exert its increased pressure on the air-reservoir A, because the passage e is closed by the valve e, nor on the primary heater D, because the valves 6 and f are closed but is allowed'to exert it in the cylinder F through the passage e and pipe f still maintaining an equal pressure on both sides of the piston F. The increased pressure is also transmitted through the pipe 0' to that portion of the power-cylinder C on the right side of the piston, while the larger surface of the opposite side of the piston is still exposed only to the uniform pressure of compressed air in the reservoir A. As the air is enteringand bein-gheated among the wires E and E the powerpiston IC' com pletes its stroke to the right, encountering the increasing pressure of the air which is overcome by the momentum of the flywheel on the crank-shaft and of other parts of the engine until its crank (1' reaches its deadpoint, at which point the piston F will arrive .at the end of its return-stroke, where it will remain stationary, while the workingpiston G is urged to the left by the increased pressure of the heated air, and at the close of the stroke in that direction the valves e and f are shifted back to the positions represented in Fig. 3, and before described, re-establishing communication between the righthand end of the cylinder 0 and the reservoir A and primary heater D, and removing the increased ressure oi the heated air from the right-hand side of the piston and causing a repetition of the above-described operation to be commenced. In the running of the engine nothing but a little waterenters and issues from it. In stopping the engine, the engineershould close the valve c very soon after the piston 0- starts on its stroke to the. right. A vacuum will then be formed behind it and it will encounter the pressure on the smaller surface, which will be very great, as I propose to compress the air in the rose ervoi r to a very high pressure-say one thousand pou nds per square inch-audit will there fore be stopped almost instantly. In case the piston C should stop on its stroke to the'let't from any cansewhatever, and the pressure of the heated air on the smaller surface of its right side he insufficient to overcomet-he pressure on the larger surface of its opposite side, the engineer will close the valve 0 and open the valve 0 The larger surface of the left side of the piston will then be relieved from pressure, the water will escape from that side of the piston, and the piston comes back to the end of its stroke to the left when the valve 0 is closed and that 0 opened, and the operation proceeds as before. The loss of water from the cylinder 0 will soon be supplied through the reservoir by the pipe 0' from the pumpB, which, as has been already explained, pumps a little more water into the'reservoir A thanout of it.

In the foregoing description I have alluded exclusively to the use of air and water; but I will now state that it may be practicable to substitute gas for air and some other liquid for water, provided always that if another liquid be pumped into the reservoir or cooler A it be allowed to cool before it can be used again to cool the air.-

Air might be used instead of water in the primary heater -D for the purpose of heating the wires E in the secondary heater E; but in that case as great, an elevation of the temperature of the wires as is obtained byusing water would not be practicable. It would also be necessary in that case to attach the pipe d to the topof .thereservoir A to prevent the water from running down it into the heater D, the object of this pipe being only to maintain an equilibrium between the said. heater and the reservoir.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters'Patent. is-

1. The combination of the reservoir or cooler A, the power-cylinder O and its piston O, the supplementary cylinderF and its piston F, and the two heaters D E, the whole applied in relation to each otherto operate substantially as herein specified.

2. The combination, with the said reservoir, cylinders, and heaters, of the pump B, ing-rod F applied and operating substam applied and operating substantially as herein tially as herein set forth.

set forth.

Y Combining vthe piston F of the -supple- PETER SIIEARER. mentary cylinder F with the main shaft a by Witnesses:

means of the crank a, of longer stroke than GEORGE PRINTZ, the driving-crank, and the jointed conneet- C. R. I'IEIZMANN; 

